Stories lure us in and bring us together. We remember them because they are relatable, funny, or weird. They connect us to ideas, people, beliefs, and perspectives. Stories help us face the unknown and help us make choices. They help us practice empathy.  In this course, we will explore the art of storytelling – through reading, listening, and sharing. You’ll be exposed to short stories, fairy tales, podcasts, poems, nonfiction pieces, songs, documentaries, photographs, films – all as modes of conveying a message and telling a story. In this class, you will discover that sharing stories, both your own and others’, is what keeps the stories alive and what keeps you connected to other people. You will be sharing stories verbally and on the page, culminating in written work, audio recordings, and creative projects.
OFFERED: Semester 1

This Grade 12 Creative Writing class will focus on the writing of fiction, flash fiction and poetry. The course will require a willingness both to invest in the analytical process and the creative process. Short Fiction: You will study narrative craft such as significant detail, dramatic structure, characterization, dialogue, voice, point of view, setting, theme, and revision. You will read and discuss short stories and flash fiction pieces, write drafts of your own short stories, and critique each other’s work. Poetry: You will read and analyze contemporary poems, as well as the work of your peers. You will also generate poems of your own. Along with an overview of various elements and principles of poetry—rhythm, voice, imagery, figurative language -- class time will be dedicated to discussing readings, completing writing exercises, and critiquing in an open, constructive, and supportive environment. The course will culminate in the creation of a creative portfolio featuring your original short fiction and poetry.
OFFERED: Semester 1, Semester 2

Detective fiction is a literary genre either in novel or short story form that deals with a crime, usually murder, in which a detective seeks justice for the victim on behalf of society. This twelfth grade course will examine the three major categories of detective fiction: the amateur detective, the private detective, and the police. In doing so, we will attempt to address several questions: What would account for the wide appeal of this genre? How has it developed over the past 150 years? What can a study of detective fiction reveal about socio-cultural anxieties, gender relations, and interactions of fiction and reality? The reading selections will range from the traditional pioneers such as Edgar Allan Poe and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and progress through the 20th and into the 21st centuries. Along the way, students will experience the contributions of Agatha Christie, Dashiell Hammett, and Raymond Chandler, to name just a few.
OFFERED: Semester 2

This course for twelfth graders will take a humanities approach to the introduction of Irish history, culture, and literature. Students will initially become acquainted with the geography and tribal history, before focusing on the significant role that English colonization in the 1600s played in the shaping of this land through the 20th Century. The Irish Question, Famine, Home Rule, Nationalism, Rebellion, Independence, and The Troubles will all be featured topics as we move deeper into the politics and culture of the area. In many instances the most interesting way to learn the history is through the literature of the times. To that end, drama, poetry, fiction and non-fiction, as well as film will serve to illuminate students’ understanding of the Irish identity. Likely authors will include Swift, Joyce, Synge, Yeats, McCourt, Wilde, Becket, and O’Casey.
OFFERED: Semester 1

How do we carry the medium of words on a page to the world of film? In this twelfth grade  course, we will look at how written works transfer and explode into adaptations of multi-dimensional and dynamic films. What alters when the medium shifts from page to film or vice versa will be our focus this term. With an emphasis on analysis—both of literary narrative structures and film techniques (mise en scene, cinematography, editing and sound…) -- this course will ask you to engage a variety of techniques: written, visual, and most importantly, creative thinking and making. Possible works include: Cormac McCarthy's and the Coen Brothers' No Country for Old Men, Stephen King's novella and Darabont's The Shawshank Redemption, Kesey's and Forman's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest; Alibar's Juicy and Delicious and Beasts of the Southern Wild; Gus Van Sant's Good Will Hunting and/or Bong Joon-Ho's Parasite.
OFFERED: Semester 2

The aim of this class is to develop a senior's writer's voice and style in a variety of modes. We will examine essays and stories from published writers and craft expository pieces that range in mode from personal narratives and imaginative descriptions to social commentaries and critiques of injustice in forms such as personal narrative and braided essays. Building on the techniques students have acquired in their English classes, participants will practice essay-writing with an eye toward recognizing the art of becoming efficient and eloquent in their phrasing, as well as original and instructive in their ideas and methods. Students will keep a journal, and write and revise a variety of essays that will ultimately contribute to their final portfolio, including a polished college essay.
OFFERED: Semester 1

What magic happens when you blend pictures and words on a page? How are images capable of not only interpreting words but potentially adding context or even changing meaning for the audience? This twelfth grade creative writing and fine arts-focused course will explore the interaction between illustration and creative writing. Co-taught by faculty from the visual arts and English department, students will strive to develop an individual, authentic, creative voice by exploring both written and visual languages in various forms. We will hone our narrative and illustrative skills via essential elements such as characterization, setting, composition and form and color. Students will investigate the work of author/illustrators like Art Spiegelman, Brian Selznick, Ezra Jack Keats, Rien Poortvliet, Maurice Sendak, Edward Gorey, William Morris, TS Eliot, Margaret Wise Brown, David Wiesner, Christopher Myers, George Butler, JRR Tolkien, and others. Major projects will include creating an ink-based illuminated poem (also called a broadside), writing and illustrating a chapter-length portion of a novella, as well as writing a short creative non-fiction essay with a single magazine-style illustration or card. All work created in this class will be critiqued and developed by peers and the instructors with the goal of a final project to be archived for the school.
OFFERED: Semester 2